U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for February 28: Making Tracks

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

MAKING TRACKS

Profile America — Tuesday, February 28th. Although February is the calendar's shortest month, it looms large in America's history of railroad development. In 1815, the first state charter for a railroad was issued by New Jersey for a never-completed line between Trenton and New Brunswick. On this date in 1827, the famed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was chartered to carry passengers and freight. And February 1830 saw the first charter for an interstate railroad to serve Virginia and North Carolina. The peak year for the number of railroads was 1907, with over 1,500 lines in operation, and the greatest extent of track mileage came in 1930 at nearly 430,000 miles. While the iron horse is no longer so singularly vital to transportation, nearly $23 billion worth of rolling stock are manufactured annually. You can find current data on the country's economy by downloading the 'America's Economy' mobile application at www.census.gov/mobile.

Sources:
Chartered railroads: Kane's Famous First Facts, 6317 & 6322
Baltimore & Ohio RR/accessed 11/25/16: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb28.html 
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1976, p. 728
Railroad manufacturing/Annual Survey of Manufacturers/NAICS 33651: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ASM/2014/31GS101//naics~33651

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Related Links

http://www.census.gov